IN BRIEF

COLD WAR

Rival towns slug it out over use of slogan

A feud between Fraser, Colo., and International Falls, Minn., over who owns the trademark "Ice Box of the Nation" is heating up.

Fraser Town Manager Jeff Durbin said the Minnesota town has replied to a lawsuit filed by Fraser with a countersuit.

Fraser officials say their town has used the phrase since 1956, and officials in International Falls say they've used it since 1948. The dueling lawsuits ask city officials to prove it.

The two chilly municipalities fought an earlier cold war over the motto decades ago that ended in 1986 with Fraser giving up its "official" claim to the trademark in exchange for $2,000 from International Falls.

But the Minnesota city last year acknowledged it had inadvertently failed to renew its federal trademark back in 1996, even while keeping a state trademark up to date. That allowed Fraser to file its own application.

WILDERNESS RESCUE

Search for missing hiker called off

The search for a hiker lost for over a week high in the snow-blanketed San Bernardino Mountains was called off Sunday, authorities said.

About 80 people combed the area near Green Valley Lake for Dean Christy for a final time but found no trace of him before the search was ended at 3 p.m., Sheriff's Sgt. Rick Ells said.

Christy, 62, made a cell phone call for help Jan. 4 when he became disoriented in fog at an elevation of about 7,000 feet. Sunday's search concentrated on a one-kilometer area around where the phone call came from, Ells said.

"We've searched as well as we can," Ells said. "We've pretty much covered all the area we can."

Rescuers were assisted by four snow cats, three helicopters and five search dogs.